Empty Bloxwich pub earmarked for homes
A vacant pub has become the fourth in Walsall borough this month to be earmarked for redevelopment, under new plans.
The former Station Hotel in Bloxwich is poised to be transformed into six, two-bedroom apartments after estate agents struggled to sell the property for years.
The pub, in Station Street, closed around four years ago and was put on the market by Christie + Co in September 2010, after initially being advertised and marketed by others.
It had an asking price of £150,000 but there were no offers for the property for either rent or outright sale for a year. The property went under the hammer in an auction in October 2011, along with other pubs at a reduced price, but it failed to attract a suitable bid.
An offer was finally made on the property in December 2011 and a sale was finalised in April last year. The new owner has now lodged the plans to turn the former pub into homes.
A report, submitted with a planning application to Walsall Council, reads: "The site has not offered a facility to the community for some time and attempting to create an alternative community facility will present its own set of problems with the residents of the adjacent properties. The current site owners would like to turn the site into a residential development."
The proposed demolition of the single storey flat roof rear extension, currently used as a toilet block, will allow a three storey tower to be built to house the staircases to the first and second floors. The existing rear outbuilding will be repaired and re-roofed to offer secure cycle and bin stores. There would also be nine on-site car parking spaces.
The plans have been welcomed by Bloxwich West Councillor Patti Lane. She said: "I think this will be a better thing. It's a disused pub. There's so many in Bloxwich West that are boarded up and are getting vandalised."
